After staying at Relativity Entertainment for nearly an hour, Shirley Lansing took the initiative to say goodbye and leave, and talked about cooperation from beginning to end, as if she had been friends with Ronan for many years, and Paramount Pictures and Relativity Entertainment were strategic partners.

Ronan sent Shirley Lansing off and called Mark Randolph directly to learn more about the rivalry between Netflix and Pepsi.

Netflix's Internet leasing business has had a huge impact on entities like Pepsi, especially since Netflix has developed rapidly last year, and the strength and weakness of the two companies have begun to reverse.

What will be the attitude of Viacom and Somer-Rayshidong?

Ronan is not too worried, the support behind Netflix is far less than now, and they have directly taken down Pepsi, with the support of Relativity Entertainment, this process will only be faster.

But there are some things that have to be guarded against.

Ronan then approached Connie and asked her to investigate Paramount Pictures' recent entanglement with DreamWorks.

On the other side, Robert Iger's team is still negotiating with Artisan Pictures, but not progressively.

Fortunately, Lionsgate is not the kind of company with deep pockets, and after bidding to about $340 million, it will no longer rashly raise prices.

At the same time, there was not so good news.

Several small cinema chains have refused to allow "The Passion of the Christ" to be shown in their cinema chains, citing its alleged defamation of religious history.

"I'm sorry, Thomas. Hoddle of Derbizi Cinemas was full of apologies and said to Thomas, the theatrical distribution director of Embassy Pictures: "After the release of the trailer of "The Passion of the Christ", the theater received a lot of protests from fans and churches, we are a small regional company, and we cannot go against the demands of local audiences and public opinion, we are very sorry that we can only give up the film "The Passion of the Christ". ”

Thomas's face did not change, and his heart was a little unhappy, and he said: "Hoddle, are you sure you want to refuse the film from Embassy Pictures? This is an important project pointed out by Mr. Ronan Anderson. ”

Hearing the name Ronan Anderson, Hoddle almost wavered, but thinking of some pressure, he still said: "We are not a big company like the four major cinema chains, the region is too strong, and if you don't pay attention to the public opinion of the local market, there is no room for survival." ”

"I see. Thomas nodded slightly, then sighed, meaning something: "In this era, there are still commercial companies and profits that can't get by. ”

Hoddle opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

Thomas's face suddenly turned cold: "In that case, we don't have much more to say." He stood up directly: "In the future, "Spy 3" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", I guess you don't want to cooperate with Relativity Entertainment." ”

After saying this, Thomas didn't even give a chance to talk back, and walked away.

Hoddle sat there and shook his head repeatedly, suddenly regretting giving up "The Passion of the Christ", but if you think about it carefully, it's a bit of a fluke, this film doesn't have many special effects, and it's not very commercial, so it will definitely be a box office hit?

Let's wait and see, you don't have to bear huge pressure, you can also see how the situation develops, even if the film has a big box office reputation, you can follow up in time, it's a big deal to bow to Relativity Entertainment.

No one wants to get along with profits, and this time I will return the favor, and I don't have to think about it so much in the future.

Thomas met with representatives of several theater companies in a row, not all of them like Hoddle.

The folks at Boulder Entertainment in New Mexico are carefully considering the pros and cons.

"Felipe, although you have less than a hundred theaters, you have always worked happily with Embassy Pictures. The continuous success of the movies produced by Relativity Entertainment has given Thomas enough confidence: "This time, for some inexplicable reasons, the film of the Embassy Film Company was refused to enter your theater, which is disappointing and chilling." ”

Hearing this, Felipe was also a little helpless, so he could only say: "Just this one, how should we cooperate in the future." ”

Thomas smiled: "Continue to cooperate......?" Felipe, do you think that the films released by Relativity Entertainment, the films released by Embassy Films, the projects that Mr. Ronan Anderson is focusing on, will there be a lack of theatrical screenings? Let me remind you, last year, in 2003, there was a box office failure of the dozen or so films released by Embassy Pictures?

Felipe was speechless, and the movie launched by Relativity Entertainment is simply synonymous with making money.

Thomas added: "This year, that is, in 2004, Embassy Pictures has released more films, and if Jushi Entertainment does not release them, we will not force them, and the cooperation between Embassy Pictures and Jushi will end here." ”

"This ......" Felipe thought of Relativity Entertainment's performance last year, and when he heard that there were more films this year, he fell into a hesitation: "Thomas, we never said that we would break off cooperation with Embassy Pictures. ”

Thomas looked at him and just smiled.

The four major cinema companies are strong, and Embassy Pictures must be easy to talk about, but a small company like Jushi Entertainment ......

Felipe weighed back and forth in his head.

Thomas said seemingly casually: "Let's compare the income that the film brings to you." ”

Box office is the most intuitive data, although the theater does not all count on box office revenue, but the basis of sales income is passenger flow, and the box office directly reflects the amount of customer flow.

The company that put pressure on it hasn't had a box office hit for several years in a row? What about Relativity Entertainment?

Who has a grudge against a large income in business?

After a few minutes of consideration, Felipe made a decision: "I'm sorry, I'm here to apologize to Embassy Pictures, because because of my short-sightedness, Boulder Entertainment almost lost one of its most reliable partners. Thomas, I'm here to assure you that all theaters under the Titulder Entertainment brand will show "The Passion of the Christ" on premiere day. We'll ...... tomorrow No, we're going to sign an official screening agreement this afternoon!"

Thomas immediately smiled and stretched out his hand and said, "Happy cooperation." ”

Philip hurriedly stretched out his hand and squeezed Thomas's hand hard: "Happy cooperation!"

Later, Thomas met with people from several small theater companies, some of which, like Jushi Entertainment, continued to cooperate with Embassy Pictures, while others took a wait-and-see attitude.

The recent information was quickly gathered on Ronan's side, and Ronan was not surprised, as Connie had gotten some information.

In the office, Connie stood across the desk and said to Ronan: "Recently, in response to the headhunting of Relativity Entertainment, a number of small theater chains refused to screen "The Passion of the Christ", although there is no clear evidence, but all of them have the shadow of Paramount Pictures. ”

Ronan wasn't surprised: "Paramount Pictures, huh...... Shirley Lansing is such a good friend. ”

Connie added: "Paramount Pictures is mainly targeting DreamWorks at this stage, and from the feedback from many sources, we are only a secondary target. ”

Ronan nodded slightly, some people from the six major companies are eyeing Relativity Entertainment, which is normal at this stage, and it is Paramount Pictures, which is owned by Viacom.

The current competition between Netflix and Pepsi is almost white-hot.

Connie's words continued: "Originally, Embassy Pictures won nearly 3,400 theaters for "The Passion of the Christ" in North America, but it was affected, many small theater companies abandoned our films, and the director of Embassy Pictures, Thomas, did a lot of work to make several companies change their minds, and "The Passion of the Christ" is currently confirmed to open about 3,000 theaters. ”

"Not less. Ronan is not afraid of competition, and he is afraid of any competitor: "No matter what pressure those companies are under, as long as "The Passion of the Christ" is a box office hit, they will actively beg to return to the ranks of screenings. ”

U.S. law does not allow studios to operate theaters at the same time, even if they hold shares.

The law has been in place for decades, and even if traditional large companies still have some influence over cinema companies, this influence cannot withstand the temptation of profits.

This is not the era of savage growth, and the game needs to abide by the minimum rules, especially when the opponent is strong, if you use means outside the rules, you have to bear the risk that the opponent will also use means outside the rules.

Ronan is not worried about the theater, nor is he worried about the trouble caused by Paramount Pictures' headhunting, perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, Relativity Entertainment is a new company, there must be many internal problems, and poaching some personnel will inevitably cause internal problems, which will affect the development of the company.

These are indeed very likely to happen before Robert Iger enters Relativity Entertainment, but Robert Iger has adjusted and managed Relativity Entertainment very well in the past two years, and there is no need to worry about the problem that the company will not work well if he goes through some middle-level personnel.

"What's the situation with Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks right now?" Ronan considered that Paramount Pictures' hand was stretched out, and he must slap it back, otherwise Relativity Entertainment would be weak, and other companies that were watching like wolves would definitely follow suit.

Connie said: "Paramount Pictures is pressing on DreamWorks step by step, in addition to raising the distribution percentage when negotiating with DreamWorks for the release of "War of the Worlds" some time ago, and recently made a series of moves, buying some shares of DreamWorks from several minority shareholders of DreamWorks, it is said that they are still in contact with Koreans, and Koreans are quite dissatisfied with Spielberg because of the problem of DreamWorks' distribution channels......"

Ronan understood: "Paramount Pictures is preparing to swallow DreamWorks, Spielberg is having a hard time." ”

"Very sad. Connie said simply, "Spielberg hasn't been seen in public for a long time. ”

Ronan nodded slowly: "I see." ”

He picked up the phone, dialed Robert Iger's number, and spoke for a long time.

Paramount Pictures is digging into the corners of Relativity Entertainment, digging into the theaters of movies released by Embassy Pictures, and now preparing to swallow DreamWorks, have you asked his opinion?